Ten Monsters

http://www.rodale.com/protecting-environment?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_10_30-_-Top5-_-NA

Interesting list.

I have several butterfly bushes in my yard.

Amphibians of Wisconsin

Another book not listed in Goodreads.

Amphibians of Wisconsin

by

Rebecca Christoffel
Robert Hay
Michelle Wolfgram

2001 Wisconsin DNR

Offers a limited amount of information and a few good photographs.

Wisconsin Frogs

Normally, I would put this on Goodreads but they do not have it in their listing.

Wisconsin Frogs

Places to Hear Frogs and Toads Near Our Urban Areas

by Randy M. Korb (2001)

Covers 12 species.

Lists several nearby sites of interest:

Riveredge Nature Center
Glacial Hills Nature Center
Menomenee Park
Schlitz Audubon Center
Nashotah County Park
Havenwoods Environmental Awareness Center
Urban Ecology Center in Riverside Park
Jacobus Park
UW-Waukesha Field Station
Retzer Nature Center
Wehr Nature Center

Includes an audio CD narrated by an enthusiastic fifth-grader.

Well worth listening to, many times, which I did.

Pythons in Pennsylvania

(Thanks to Elizabeth for calling my attention to this story.)

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48885/title/FOR_KIDS_Giant_snakes_invading_North_America

I'll bet one of those Anaconda Burgers would be mighty tasty.

Horned Devil from the River of Death

Three dinosaurs that were thought to belong to very different groups are actually kids, teens and adults of the same genus, researchers say.

- Science News (link here)

Little Jack Horner in the news.

And this is a problem when everyone is so keen on naming news species.

Every little bone seems like it is the next great thing.

Mosquito Terminators

Certain jumping spiders prefer partners that have recently dined on blood-fed mosquitoes.

- Science News (link here)

Spiders are our friends.

Unicorn Fly

Scientists have found a tiny fly with a three-pronged horn and spiky eyes preserved in a chunk of amber dating to roughly 100 million years ago.

- Science News (link here)

A new family, very exciting.

And I did not realize that there was an entire scientific journal devoted to the Cretaceous.

Dinosaur Park

Interesting article on the new park in Laurel, MD [The Washington Post (link here)].

I did not know that Maryland had a state dinosaur until I read this story.

Sounds like it would be worth a visit.

Comets vs. mammoths

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/48358/title/FOR_KIDS_Three_strikes_wiped_out_woolly_mammoths

Interesting speculations on the roles of comets, climate change, and hunting by humans in the extinction of wooly mammoths.

Whales vs. global warming

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48484/title/Sperm_whales_as_a_carbon_sink

Maybe.

Sand castles from Hell

Like sand castles from hell, fire ant mounds have been popping up across lawns, parks and golf courses – even in the middle of the street.

- Dallas Morning News (link here)

But not quite a plague of biblical proportions.

Bears vs. cars

But as the bear rummaged around in the car, causing extensive damage, the door closed and the bear could not deduce how to get out.''

- Denver Post (link here)

Smart enough to open car doors from the outside but not from the inside?

Dumpster-diving bears

For the bears around Bailey, 40 miles southwest of Denver, the choice of wild berries and tree bark or a trip to the trash bin behind the Coney Island hot-dog stand — where they can gorge on bags full of half-eaten hot dogs, hamburgers and ice-cream cones — is apparently a no-brainer.

- Denver Post (link here)

Hot dogs are better than tree bark?

Deer vs. woman

A woman called a deer and tried to pet it, but the deer lowered its head and charged her instead, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

- KUSA-TV (Denver) / azcentral (link here)

Yet another reason to carry a loaded handgun.

Darwinopterus

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48389/title/Darwinopterus_points_to_chunky_evolution

Modular evolution?

Giant invasive snakes

"Although the largest individuals of all of the species covered in this work are probably capable of killing an adult human, most seem disinclined to do so."

- Miami Herald, quoting a new federal study (link here)

A silver lining?

Deer vs. boys

His 9-year-old friend Wyatt Pugh beat the deer with a stick to make it go away.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

This is what friends are for.

Exceptionally strange

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/48230/title/Fungi_thrived_during_mass_extinction

New research suggests that some fungi thrived during the Permian extinction.

Gators vs. golfers

The gator pulled the golfer into the pond and ripped off his arm in the struggle.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

Ouch.

10 Riskiest Foods

http://www.rodale.com/tainted-food?cm_mmc=DailyNewsNL-_-2009_10_08-_-Top5-_-NA

I am not giving up leafy greens.

Don't mess with the giant squid

(Thanks to Elizabeth for calling my attention to this article.)

http://www.slate.com/id/2229659/

I agree with the author.

Brown trout

Logan's antelope

I could sure go for some gamy antelope steaks right about now.

Beware raccoons

Animal control officers hope to trap a pack of raccoons that mauled a 74-year-old Florida woman who tried to chase them from her yard.

- AP/azcentral (link here)

I am going to have to start carrying a loaded gun when I am in the garden.

Just in case.

Colorado mastodon

"It's the first good record of an American mastodon in Colorado," said Steve Holen, curator of archaeology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

- Denver Post (link here)

Exciting find.